New Photox app from UA grad fixes imperfect photos

Saturday

May 3, 2014 at 10:15 PMMay 3, 2014 at 10:15 PM

When Louisa Imperiale's daughter was born 14 months ago, her husband took that once-in-a-lifetime photo of her holding her baby girl for the first time. As she browsed through the photos, trying to find the best one to share with family and friends on Facebook, she realized her bra strap was showing.

By Angel CokerStaff Writer | The Tuscaloosa News

When Louisa Imperiale's daughter was born 14 months ago, her husband took that once-in-a-lifetime photo of her holding her baby girl for the first time. As she browsed through the photos, trying to find the best one to share with family and friends on Facebook, she realized her bra strap was showing.“As much as I wanted to share that priceless photo, I didn't really want all of Facebook seeing my wardrobe malfunction,” Imperiale said. “Later that night in the hospital, I begged my husband to do a quick Photoshop job on the picture and voila! The bra strap was gone!” Imperiale said it was in that instant the idea for the Photox app was born.Imperiale, who was born in Tuscaloosa and graduated from Holt High School and the University of Alabama, has now become an entrepreneur in Washington, D.C., because of this app. After her daughter was born, she said she decided to take some time off from political fundraising and pursue the creation of the app to help people cherish memories instead of scrutinizing their pictures.“I think especially women but also men do a lot of nitpicking with their own photos,” Imperiale said. “Nobody likes the way they look in pictures. This will be a good way for people to get over their own nitpicking and be free from worrying about how they look in pictures.”Photox is a free iPhone app found in the Apple App Store that allows users to upload photos from their camera roll into the app, choose from a menu of 32 Photoshop services and submit those photos to a team of designers, located around the world for 24-hour service. The user should be notified by text message within 15 minutes of submission that the photo has returned with alterations.“It's like Botox for your photos,” Imperiale said.The app, released 10 days ago, has received a five-star rating in the app store and exceeded its download goal in the first 48 hours, Imperiale said. She said more than1.1 billion photos are uploaded to social media every day and that approximately 50 percent of people who upload those photos admitted to altering them in some way.Imperiale said Photox receives a picture from the same woman every day who is trying to lose 100 pounds. She said the woman said the full-body weight loss service is a great tool to keep her motivated because she can see what the end result will look like.The app offers simple enhancement services such as red-eye removal and color correction and extreme services such as buttocks enlargement, nose and breast jobs and adding six-pack abs. The most commonly used services, however, include full-body weight loss, acne removal, tanning or lightening skin and creating skinny arms.Imperiale said creating skinny arms is one of the most popular services because it reduces pudge from around the arms when they lay against the body.“Everybody can stop doing the teapot pose, put your arm down and get Photoxed,” she said.Erin Veltman said she has used almost all of the services provided, including object removal and full-body weight loss.“I never like the way I look in photos, so I'm constantly retaking them. Very rarely do I love the way they come out,” Veltman said. “Photox allows me to edit the little imperfections like lighting or being caught at the wrong angle and, in doing so, I can focus on the moment captured in the photo instead of what I don't like about it. The best part is that you cannot tell that the photos have been edited.”Although the app is free, not all of the services are free. Imperiale said the app will always offer three services for free, rotating them out from time to time. Cost for services ranges from 99 cents to $9. The app is not yet available for Android smart phones.

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